Patterns and Trends of Health and Social Care

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Patterns and Trends of Health and Social Care Social Groupings Statistical data is used to explain the patterns and trends in health and illness among different social categories such as gender, social class, ethnicity, age and geographical location. Information collected from these social categories helps researchers in finding the root cause of illness and diseases. Social Class Smoking: * Social Class I (Professional; Doctors, Accountants, Engineers, etc.) 15% of Men and 14% of Women smoke. * Social Classes II & III (Middle Class) 32% of Men and 30% of Women smoke. * Social Class V (Unskilled; Labourers, Cleaners, etc.) 45% of Men and 33% of Women smoke. The reason for the high percentage of smokers in the Class V is because this class of people are exposed to poverty, violence, crime and bills which cannot be paid and this can lead to depression. When people are depressed/stressed smoking helps calm and sooth this is because people of class V cannot afford a lot, but because they are depressed they spend nearly all their money on tobacco and leave very little left for food/clothes. Due to this lack of basic amenities they are more exposed to ill health and the majority of the time sadly result in death. This is why there are not as many deaths from the middle and upper class from smoking, this is because they would be able to afford basic amenities and if they do become ill can afford private health care. Source: www.nice.org.uk Alcohol and Drugs: * Experimentation with illegal drugs does not appear to vary much between social groups, however addiction and regular use are more likely to develop among people from lower social classes. * In Scotland the ‘Scottish Consortium On Crime and Criminal Justice’ carried out research on their prisons. They found that 80%-90% of prisoners that were taken into custody for the
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